A “supply chain” refers to a chain of entities, paths, and other points across which a raw material, part, or product is processed, transferred, and/or otherwise manipulated. Typically, the supply chain for a business enterprise includes suppliers, manufacturing centers, warehouses, distribution centers, and retail outlets. Efficient and cost-effective supply chain management requires controlling the flow and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory and finished products within and between various facilities. The goal of a properly managed supply chain is to allow merchandise to be produced and distributed in the right quantities, to the right locations and at the right time, in order to minimize system-wide costs while satisfying customer service expectations.
The steps of the supply chain generally perform different processes involving different organizations, measurement standards, and responsibilities. The supply chain network must therefore take into account every facility or step that has an impact on cost and plays a role in making the product available to the customer. Similarly, the steps performed in product flow from supplier to customer are not likely to be static or a simple “one-path” route. Efficiency and costs demand that the supply chain remain dynamic and adjust to variations.
Historically each section of the supply chain tends to be locally optimized. For example, transportation companies optimize their costs and logistics without much regard to the effects on other sections of the chain such as manufacturing or warehousing. This has resulted in different sections of the supply chain being managed by different systems and a lack of continuity for analysis across sections. As an example of such discontinuity, a manufacturer may assign a serial number to a product for in-house analysis, but the shipping company may track the product by another identification such as order number. As a result, integration of information and tracing of product from one step to another in the supply chain can be a difficult task.
Implementation of data base technology, such as a data warehouse, provides a framework for tracking and reporting on extremely complex product flows associated with manufacturing and supply chain. Additional framework, required to support analytical models and projections, can be provided by segmentation as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/254,234, filed on Sep. 25, 2002. application Ser. No. 10/254,234, entitled “ANALYZING A SUPPLY CHAIN BASED ON A SEGMENTED REPRESENTATION OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN,” by Bruce E. Aldridge and Rangarajan S. Thirumpoondi; assigned to NCR Corporation, is incorporated by reference herein.
Detailed mathematical algorithms can be linked to each segment to project output times, quantities and splits based on observed segment inputs. The segmented approach then defines paths to link segments and model the supply chain or manufacturing flow. The complexities and continuous changes associated with the intricate data models constructed to monitor the numerous events and activities involved in complex manufacturing and supply chain product flows generally makes detailed modeling and predictive analysis difficult as models cannot be physically set up, managed or expeditiously updated with conventional methods.